About the author:
Dr. Paul Jenkins works with organizations and individuals to establish and maintain habitual patterns of positive perception and focus that increase happiness, engagement, productivity, profit, and ultimate achievement of professional and personal life missions. With two decades of experience as a professional psychologist, Dr. Paul (as he is known to clients and his audiences) lays out the how and the why behind the art and science of being constructive in an often destructive environment. It is like having an owner's manual for your brain - one you can actually read, understand, and apply. You understand your own mind and improve its functioning on purpose. His deeply thoughtful writing, engaging and fun keynote addresses, powerfully practical breakout seminars, individual and corporate coaching and counseling are profound and simple. His clients, readers, and audiences get an iron grip on powerful Pathological Positivity principles that make an immediate difference in their personal and professional lives. Dr. Paul lives with his wife and family in the beautiful mountains of Utah, headquarters to his positive psychology practice, Live On Purpose. He regularly speaks to corporate, association, and private groups about applying principles of positive psychology to create and live the life they love. Dr. Paul also continues to see individual clients in his office or by telephone or video conferencing for personal consultation and coaching. Visit www.DrPaulJenkins.com to learn more.

Pathological Positivity

You've heard the question a hundred times: "Is the glass half empty or half full?" If we are in negativity mode we see the glass as half empty. Anyone can see it's half empty. When we are feeling negative, we focus on what is missing and lament the lack of water in the glass. When we are feeling more positive, we see the glass as half full. Of course it is half full. Anyone can see that. We focus on what we desire, and celebrate the presence of water. Then there are those who see it as completely full - all the time. These seemingly crazy people are not just positive; they are what this psychologist calls pathologically positive. Pathological Positivity is an empowering mental supernormality that lifts us above the normal perception of "reality." It is a higher level of thinking. We see the glass, and our lives, as completely full - even in the toughest situations. How is that possible? How can we see the glass as completely full? Must we make up facts to justify our theory - our pathologically positive position? Do we pretend there is more water? Not at all. We notice and pay attention to what really is - and simply accept the truth. The glass is indeed filled half way with water. It is filled the rest of the way with something just as valuable, and even more immediately necessary to life, than water. In truth, the glass is completely full. The glass is half full of water and filled the rest of the way and to overflowing with precious air. What if it is lying on its side? What if it is shattered in a thousand pieces? How can it then possibly be full? Because the glass does not contain the air, it is immersed in it. In the same way, our lives are not only filled with opportunity, we are immersed in such an abundance of opportunity and resources that we cannot contain it. Normally, we don't notice the air in the glass - or even around us - because we are used to it. Air is the most immediately important and most abundant life giving substance on earth. We are completely immersed in it. We've never been without it. We certainly would notice if it was missing. How do we feel when the people around us habitually react to challenges with negativity? Conversely, how do we feel when their reaction to difficult situations is instinctively positive? Difficult challenges, even painful disasters, are viewed as opportunities for invention, creation, innovation, and positive change. Energy replaces apathy. Focus replaces fear. Determination replaces doubt. Truth replaces tradition. Productivity replaces lethargy. We are all after one thing: The Feeling. The Feeling that life is good. The Feeling that life is great. That life is perfect. This is our quest. All theories, philosophies, policies, practices and tools are roads which are intended to lead us to that Rome - to feel good, better, great. Success is accomplished through an accurate understanding and application of what brings us The Feeling. Failure is accomplished through an erroneous understanding and application of what brings us The Feeling. Our objective in life is to achieve or acquire The Feeling. Pathological Positivity is the process for acquiring The Feeling. It always works! Pathological? Doesn't "pathological" mean insane? In psychological lingo, "pathological" generally means crazy or disordered - disconnected from reality. It can also mean compulsively driven, as in "pathological liar." A pathological liar says things everyone knows cannot possibly be true - and he should know it too! With Pathological Positivity, we doggedly insist on a way of thinking that brings The Feeling regardless of our circumstances. We live on purpose through the powerful science of Pathological Positivity, regardless of how crazy it might seem. Phenomenal prosperity is, indeed, the predictable product of Pathological Positivity.